After the Birds
by tuxedotservo
Summary: Updated 11-19-02 A look at Vampire Miyu after the TV series. Miyu deals with the aftershocks from events that ended the anime. Feedback is always appreciated.
1. Retribution and Healing

"Retribution and Healing"  
-------------------------

"They went too far." 

The female blinked, looking at her male companion and mouthing the words back. "Your   
grasp of understatement is, as always, stunning." 

The male smirked, bracing himself from the cold wind that was blowing down the alley   
at them, biting. "Don't snap at me. It certainly wasn't my idea." He paused, kicking his   
heel into the wall he leaned against. "Curse them. They have made things so difficult for   
all of us, now. I don't enjoy life on the run." 

"It was a good idea," the female injected. "It just didn't work. If you had heard about it   
beforehand, are you saying you wouldn't have supported them?" 

"Not the point." 

"Whatever." The female glanced at a clock tower in the distance. "This probably isn't a   
good place to be, considering the time..." 

The male nodded, and they both started to turn towards the entrance to the alley when a   
soft, steady voice called out, causing both of them to stop in their tracks. 

"Shin-ma..." 

Both figures froze, turning ever so slowly, casting their eyes in the direction of what had   
been the empty wall at the end of the alley. Before them, a girl in white, arms crossed,   
leaned against the aging brick, her bare legs appearing unfazed by the cold. The female   
figure gasped in terror. 

"I've come for you," Miyu whispered, her voice carrying in the cold, crisp air. "As I will   
for all Shinma, forevermore...as destiny dictates." She unfolded her arms, small flames   
popping up in each palm. Flames in the darkness.

The figures started to back away, but their escape quickly closed as a tall, dark figure in a   
mask stepped into the alleyway, blocking the way out. 

"We had nothing to do with it!" the male protested, his eyes focusing and locking on   
Miyu. "They acted on their own, Guardian..." 

"We had nothing to do with the Birds or their plans!" the female injected, her voice   
desperate. "We've been peaceful...we never interfere or act wrongly towards   
humans..._please_..." 

Miyu turned her head to the sky, looking for a long moment at a light on a distant   
building. Inhaling, she shifted her eyes back on the two, golden intensity. "I've reached a   
decision, based on your words and pleading." 

The male shifted his feet, his eyes hopeful. "And what is your decision, Guardian?" 

"_I...don't...care._" 

The flames leapt from the hands of Miyu and, before they could react, engulfed both   
Shinma fully. Both screamed and twitched in their agony, and then were gone, with nary   
a trace to speak of their existence. Miyu exhaled, nodded at Larva, and closed her eyes. 

When her eyes reopened, Miyu was back in her world. Larva stood nearby, removing his   
mask and shifting his eyes around, settling on Miyu and watching her move about,   
seemingly without purpose or direction. "Are we done tonight?" 

"Possibly." Miyu picked up a handball, gazing at it a long moment, and then set it down.  
"The Shinma are doing a better job of hiding from me. These two were stupid and clumsy  
to be out. We won't score like that again, tonight." Miyu walked to a blackened tree, looking   
into a hole created by rot and decay, her eyes half-closed. "I wish the cowards would come   
out in force, so I can finish this." 

"Even both of us cannot challenge all the Shinma at once," Larva stated, more as a flat,   
general observation then a correction to Miyu. He studied her a moment, and then walked   
near her. "When will this pursuit of the Shinma end? Will this hunt ever really make your   
pain end? Your role as Guardian isn't to search and destroy, at least not like this." 

Miyu didn't answer, but instead took a step closer to the tree. She started to reach into the   
hole, but hesitated. 

"I don't think hunting Shinma relentlessly is the answer to your pain, Miyu." 

Miyu sighed, reaching into the hole in the trunk of the tree with both hands. When her   
hands emerged, they held a large, opaque handball. In a moment, it turned into the  
severed head of Inoue Chisato, eyes closed in blissful eternal fantasy. Unconsciously,  
Miyu stroked the hair a moment, and then looked at the face closely.

"Would you like me to place that somewhere out of your sight?" Larva offered, knowing  
the answer beforehand.

Miyu shook her head. "No. I need to always remember what my _friend_ here did." Miyu   
bit her lip, her eyes filled with hurt and bitterness. She looked at the head for a long moment,  
lost in trance-like thought..

So many things went through Miyu's mind. Affection. Confusion. Hatred. It was all a blur.  
Her transformation into the Guardian had made her nearly immune to being manipulated  
emotionally, but not on this occasion. Not this time...

It was the perfect trap, and she fell into it, fully.

"I hate you for what you did!" Miyu thought, but the words echoed in her conscious hollow  
and without meaning. It wasn't accurate to say that, but Miyu couldn't think of how she truly  
felt, having for so long put emotions to the side. She had allowed three humans in, and now  
they were all gone...two by death, and one...

Miyu's own voice echoed in her head, recalling something that she had both said and thought  
countless times before:

"I_ don't want friends._"

And, as if on cue, the voice of Chisato replied, as it always did:

"_That's a lie._"

Larva stood silently. He had witnessed this same ritual, countless times it seemed. There   
was always variation, perhaps even the hint of a tear, but in the end Miyu would place the   
ball back in the tree, and begin the work to find her next targets. Out of reflex, his eyes   
shifted to the hole in the trunk, expecting the ball to be deposited. Larva wasn't   
expecting Miyu to say anything else, so he was startled when she did speak. 

"It was the _cruelest_ of tactics, Larva." 

It was more than she had really ever said about the incident with Chisato, even if it was   
simply a mere sentence. It summarized, in no terms uncertain, what Miyu was thinking.   
Larva had tried, on many occasions, to find her feelings out, but she had kept them   
locked away. 

Miyu stroked the side of Chisato's face. "I blame her for everything, but yet, she was just   
a shell. She didn't know...how could she?" Miyu brushed the hair more, taking care to lay   
each strand down, as it was when the girl used to be. "I can't let it go. This head is the   
physical representation of what they did. They took everything but you from me...and   
they almost took you as well. I may forgive Chisato, someday, but I'll _never_ forgive   
them. I will destroy them, before they have the chance to try again with me, and take you   
away." 

"The Birds are dead," Larva reminded Miyu. "And the other Shinma didn't participate   
in the planning or execution of the scheme, from what we've learned." 

"It doesn't matter!" Miyu injected, cradling the head near to her chest. "They would   
have, if they had known. To destroy the Guardian would have been the wish and dream   
of any Shinma." 

Larva nodded. It had even been his goal, once...and, because of a promise, might be his   
destiny, someday... 

Miyu calmly placed the head back in the tree, and turned away from it, her eyes closed.   
"As long as Shinma exist, I must hunt them down, not only because of my role as   
Guardian, but so no one can ever do that to us again." 

"What about me?" Larva inquired in a low, steady voice. "I'm Shinma, too." 

Miyu looked up, and smiled slightly. It was the first time in a long time that she had done   
so, other than a quick victory smirk after defeating Shinma. "You're different. You know   
that." 

Larva tipped his head. "What makes me different?" He knew the answer, but he wanted   
to hear it. He wanted to keep Miyu talking.

Miyu smiled again, and then moved in, giving Larva a hug with more energy than she   
had in ages. "Because we share the same blood, my Larva...we are one, in blood and   
soul. You are all I'm sure of, in this existence, but that is all I need." 

Larva was about to reply, but held his thought as Miyu, softly, started to cry. She pressed   
her face into his dark cloak, the gold in her eyes sparkling with the additional moisture.   
Larva instinctively drew her in, holding her close. After a few moments, she leaned back,   
looking up at his face and running a hand along it, slowly and thoughtfully. 

"To kill you would be to kill myself," Miyu whispered. "And I could never do either."   
She sighed, renewed tears entering her eyes as she recalled her last words to Chisato,   
thinking of her role and her destiny, knowing her destiny could only end when her mission  
did. Miyu was content in the knowledge that when her mission truly did end, the one she   
loved would be the one to send her beyond her life. Nothing could seem more fitting,  
more appropriate, as again her own voice echoed her words to Chisato:

"_I can't die now_."  


This fanfiction Copyright 2002 Kevin Turnquist. Er...rights?


	2. From a Specter to Forgiveness

"From a Specter to Forgiveness""  
----------------------------------

"Why are you being so hostile to me? It is like you don't know me! I'm not an enemy!" 

Miyu, her posture of both elegance and contained violence, considered this for a long moment,  
a wry smile appearing at last. "I must return you to the Dark, because of your nature.." 

"The...Dark?" the figure inquired, the feminine voice low and neutral. "What's that?"

"Don't play stupid!" Miyu snapped, but then shrugged. "I sense you are Shinma. It is my destiny  
to confront you. You know this to be true. If you don't about the Guardian, you're a poor excuse  
for a Shinma." 

"I don't know about any of this 'Guardian' or 'Shinma' talk, but you can explain that to me later."  
The figure smiled from under a face-concealing hood. She looked at Miyu, and then at Larva,  
standing behind and slightly to Miyu's right. "I simple wish to talk to you, my friend." The tone and  
inflection she used for the last two words made Miyu shiver visibly, once. "In private, if you don't  
mind. You can introduce me to your friend when we are done."

The mannerism of this creature was starting to confuse Miyu, ever so slightly. Either it was a very   
detailed, elaborate ploy, or Miyu was dealing with a Shinma that wasn't terribly bright. Miyu decided  
to play the game, just to see. "Very well," Miyu replied. "Larva? Please leave us. I'll summon you if  
necessary." 

Larva hesitated a moment. "You think that is wise? Perhaps I should stay..." 

"Larva, _please_," Miyu whispered, looking back. Her eyes conveyed her desire more than   
her words. "I'll be fine. Don't go too far, though." 

Larva nodded, walking backward and disappearing into the darkness, leaving the   
grinning figure and Miyu to their own devices. Miyu watched the point of departure for a   
long moment, and then turned her full attention on the female. "What is your name, so   
that I might know who I'm dealing with?" 

The voice, soft, replied with no tone. "You don't recognize me? Have I been gone so long now?  
I don't think I've change so much. _You_ haven't changed at all!" The figure shuffled its feet. "I thought  
it would be such a nice surprise...but you don't remember." 

Miyu tipped her head to the left. Now she was really curious. "I don't know you, or why you think  
I should know you, but it doesn't matter. Even if I did know who you were, the manner I deal with  
you wouldn't change." Miyu extended a palm, a flame forming. "And here is _your_ surprise, Shinma."

The figure giggled, in a tone that sounded eerily familiar to Miyu. "That's a neat trick...magic!" The  
figure shuffled her feet again. "I don't know...if you don't want me around, I can leave, if that is what  
you desire, Miyu." 

Miyu showed her teeth in anger. She was growing tired of this game, and the flame danced in  
annoyance in her palm. Miyu paused, not remembering telling the figure her name. Miyu thought that  
was odd, but quickly put it out of her mind as irrelevant. "It is my desire _and_ destiny! I will now send  
you back to the Dark..." 

Before Miyu could finish her sentence, the air around the figure shifted and blurred, as if   
a haze or fog had set in. The world took on a surreal atmosphere, and for a long moment  
Miyu felt as if she were in a dream. Slowly, the visual field cleared, and the two stood alone  
in a pleasant park, with a bench nearby. The figure reached up, pulling the concealing hood  
of the raincoat back and away, and smiled pleasantly.

Miyu found herself staring, her mouth dropped open but unable to formulate words or sound. Her  
vocal cords were frozen, but not her mind. The flame in Miyu's palm extinguished itself. "It _can't_ be..." 

"Hello, Miyu!" the figure before her greeted, in a voice that, although committed to a   
distant memory, rung true in every tone. "I've missed you, my special friend. Surprised?" 

"It _can't_ be..." 

"I have been gone a long time, but I'm back," the figure continued, running a thin frail   
hand through reddish-brown hair. "I came back for you! I've missed you so much! You,  
and Yukari and Hisae...I've missed all my friends! I can't wait for us to all be together again." 

Miyu trembled. Her mind told her, over and over, that the person before her couldn't be,   
that she should react, before it was too late. But Miyu couldn't do anything, for she was   
paralyzed by the ghost before her, a ghost that felt all too real, in mannerism, appearance,   
and even soul... 

_"Chisato?_" 

Chisato smiled, her eyes lighting up. "You _do_ remember me! Well? Did you miss me? You  
have always been so quiet, but then you started acting all weird on me when I first showed up...  
I was starting to wonder. And those clothes." 

Miyu shivered, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "You _aren't_ real. You _can't_ be   
real. You are in eternal dream, forever locked away." 

Chisato laughed. "_Silly_! The things you say! Perhaps _you_ had a dream, yes? Thinking   
something happened to me, while I simply went away for a while. I'm back now. I'm   
just..._me_...you look at me like I'm a stranger, Miyu." 

"_But_..." Miyu was confused, and a touch frightened. She remembered the events of long   
ago, or at least she thought she remembered them. She could picture Yukari, struck down,  
and Chisato doing the same to her. Miyu remembered the pain, as the sword pierced her  
body, impaling her soul and her emotional center, forever. 

But yet here was Chisato, as if the world had never changed, like that dark day had never  
occurred. She seemed so innocent...so... 

"I brought you back something, from my trip," Chisato announced, happily. "It's a relic...  
want to see? You have to come closer...it is a surprise...a present, I guess. I couldn't help  
but think of you when I saw it, for some reason." 

Miyu, seemingly not in control of her body, took a step forward. "This _can't_ be..." she   
breathed, over and over. "It just _can't_...I know it can't...but...it _feels_ like her presence...  
it feels like the time before..._before_..." 

As Miyu approached, Chisato reached behind her back, and quickly brought forward the   
sword. "Isn't it great, Miyu?" she asked, excitement in her voice. "Come closer! Look at   
the details. It's very different." 

Miyu looked at the sword, her eyes wide. "You...the sword...what are you doing?" 

Chisato giggled. "I'll be careful, Miyu! I would never hurt you, my friend!" Chisato   
started to walk forward, the sword out before her. "Never! I just want you to see it." 

The words Chisato had used rolled through Miyu's head over and over again:, as her eyes  
watched the apparition approach.

"I would never hurt you, my friend!..._I_ would never hurt you..._I_ would never..._I_..."

Miyu's looked once more at the sword. Her thoughts raced. "I can't believe I didn't think of it  
before...the answer has always been there, but my anger and hurt blocked it away..."

"I see us having a great time in this life, Miyu!" Chisato announced, though her voice seemed  
a little off now. "Do me a favor..."

"_Lies_!" Miyu cried out, her voice filled with anger. Miyu jumped back and away from   
the tip of the sword, just as Chisato lurched, nearly thrusting it into Miyu's abdomen. "Reveal   
your true self, Shinma! I know your true nature!" The flame reappeared in Miyu's hand, the  
tips dancing with her fury. 

Chisato stood still, holding the sword. "_What_ nature? That was just an accidental slip, Miyu..." 

"You won't cloud my mind again!" Miyu declared fiercely. "You've managed to change your  
appearance, but you have revealed your sinister self to me.. I know now what I've been   
seeking - what I should always have known - that the creature that acted against me wasn't  
the true Chisato. The true Chisato died when the egg within her hatched."

The flame leapt from Miyu's hand, engulfing the form of the girl before her.

"If I'm wrong, this won't have an affect on her," Miyu told herself, preparing, but there was   
no need. The air around Chisato blurred, and in her place a wrinkled old female Shinma   
stood, thrashing and screaming in its throes. In a moment, it was gone, consumed by the fire,  
with only a wisp of smoke remaining.

Miyu sank to her knees, looking at the ground and taking deep, calculated breaths, tears  
in her eyes. A moment later, she turned her head, acknowledging the form of her companion.  
"Larva." 

"That was very strange," Larva observed, looking at the spot the Shinma vanished. "I have heard   
heard of that Shinma...Urakata...a scene shifter of sorts, but had always thought her more of a legend."   
He extended a hand out to Miyu, helping her up. "She was said to have great power, with the ability  
to make her target see whatever she desired them to see." Larva studied Miyu a moment, as she  
worked to regain her composure. "What did she reveal to you in her visions, Miyu?" He placed a   
reassuring hand on her shoulder, looking in her eyes. "You appeared confused and frozen a moment,  
until you recovered."

Miyu closed her eyes, inhaling. "I saw Inoue Chisato." When Miyu opened her eyes, they   
both stood under the crimson sky of her world. "It was so _real_, Larva. It felt like   
Chisato...even smelled like her, if you can believe that. She apparently could manipulate the  
senses as well." 

Larva nodded. "She must have known a bit about your past to use that against   
you. Perhaps she was a bit telepathic, to pull from your thoughts as she went along."   
He leaned against a blackened tree. "I had a hard time not interfering, but you seemed to   
snap out of her trance on your own." 

Miyu smiled, slightly. "It is good you didn't interfere. I discovered something, about   
myself and the past. It is something I've always known, but denied, inside. Lingering doubts,  
you might say." 

Miyu walked to the trunk of an old, rotted tree, reached in, and pulled a round handball. The orb  
faded away, and Miyu held the severed head of Chisato, cradling it to her and hugging it softly.  
"I know that the true Chisato wasn't the one who hurt me so...that she ceased being Chisato  
when the Shinma took over her body." Miyu sighed, stroking the red head softly. "I think I knew  
right away, when I put her in eternal bliss, but I convinced myself afterwards that it had to be her  
fault, because it hurt so much, and I placed myself in the position for that to happen."

"She was a tool to get at you," Larva injected, soft and steady. "Neither of you are to blame. It  
was the Birds who did this, to both of you. She lost as well."

"All this time, I have held her responsible, to different levels at different times, but it wasn't her.  
She was, at the end, what she was in life...innocent." Miyu looked at the head. "She still is, in her  
dreams."

Miyu turned the head, cradling it in the nook of her arm and, using her fingers, opened   
Chisato's eyes. They started back, expressionless and vacant. "It still hurts, and I'll never   
trust a human to that level again, but fault her? I can't fault her any longer...I never did. Her name  
may bring me pain, but it will also bring me good memories, too, for what she was, for a little while." 

Larva nodded. "It is good to relieve this burden from your soul. It is good not to carry it around,  
and let it engulf yourself and everything you live for." 

Miyu sighed, hugging the head of Chisato once more, and it slowly turned back into a handball.   
When she was done, Miyu handed the handball to Larva, gently. "Please take Chisato away,"  
she whispered. "To a nice place, but a place I don't know of. I don't need her around any longer,  
and now she can dream in true peace. Make it a beautiful place, fit for the pure of heart and soul,  
that she was." 

"I will put her in a proper place," Larva promised, taking the handball from Miyu and slowly   
walking away. The head faded away, replaced by the glass orb once more, and Larva handled  
it delicately.

"Thank you, Larva." Miyu watched Larva go, and soon he disappeared into the dense forest in  
the distance. After he was gone, Miyu wiped her eyes. "Goodbye, Chisato," she whispered." Miyu  
jumped up into the tree that had been home for Chisato for so long, sitting on a branch and gazing  
out at the landscape.

"My existence will never be the same again, because of the Birds," Miyu whispered  
to herself. "But I will remember the time I had you in my life when you were really   
yourself, Chisato. Perhaps someday, when I think of you, I'll smile for you."

Miyu glanced up in her red sky, a close-lipped grin evident. "Maybe."

Copyright 2002 Kevin Turnquist. Rights...right.


	3. Echoes from the Past

Echoes from the Past  
-------------------------- 

"Is this necessary, at this point?" 

Miyu had been pacing a tree branch, but paused, looking back with thought at her   
companion. She touched her cheek, thoughtful, and then smiled. "It is," she responded.   
"It always is, for the countless times you have asked me about it in the past, as it is now,   
and as it will be for as long as I exist." Miyu paced again, her head bowed in   
concentration. "I appreciate your concern as always, Larva." 

Larva, his imposing figure leaning against the trunk of the tree, looked out into the night.   
He had hoped, countless times, to put the city below into the past and never return. That   
was especially true of the cemetery they had once called home, and was now their present   
stopping place. 

He knew, however, that Miyu needed to do this particular task to lock her focus, and to   
clear her head. It seemed to work, over time, and Larva wasn't going to argue with   
anything that seemed to bring peace of mind to Miyu, or at least as much peace of mind   
as the Guardian could ever truly achieve or afford. 

"It's to remember," Miyu explained each time, simply. "It's nothing more than that." And   
then she'd be gone, returning hours later with renewed vigor and energy. 

It wasn't clinging to the past, really, and Larva no longer had concern for Miyu's mental   
state. He just thought that, after so much time, that some things were no longer necessary. 

Miyu, however, clearly didn't feel that way. 

"I shall not be long," Miyu promised, giving Larva a little embrace and then jumping   
down from the branch, landing with grace between two grave markers. She looked up,   
her eyes electric in the moonlight. "When I return, we'll quickly depart for our next town.   
School starts soon, and I must get myself organized there." 

Larva nodded, and Miyu turned and started walking to her destination, her senses taking   
in everything around her. It wasn't that there was the threat of encountering a Shinma -   
most of them knew not to cross her, but especially here. It was more a mental exercise, to   
trigger the memories that the city held for her. 

"So much has changed, over time," Miyu noted, her eyes looking in the direction of a   
large office complex that used to be the site of an apartment building within view of the   
cemetery. The old building had been demolished some time before, replaced by the much   
larger, more useful building. "Probably less cursed, too," she thought, chuckling softly.   
"Though buildings are rarely cursed, but rather it's the people in them." 

Miyu continued on, walking with casual purpose. She wasn't in a rush - far from it,   
really. This was not an exercise in speed or efficiency. Over the years, she had gotten   
into a pattern with these visits, and it was almost a choreographed performance. The   
results, however, were of far greater benefit than any simple show could deliver... 

Miyu entered the residential area of the city, her focus now on the road in front of her.   
Soft footsteps echoed off the walls, coming back to her in a melody of the still night. The   
faintest of breezes blew wind charms lazily in the wind, a single note, now and then,   
breaking the stillness. 

"A lot of new construction," Miyu noted, barely recognizing the neighborhoods that she   
had come to use for place markers in her memories. "Buildings, like lives, are finite, even   
though they seem permanent." 

Rounding a corner, she stopped, and closed her eyes. Taking a number of deep breaths,   
she slowly opened her eyes, golden elegance absorbing the empty lot before her. The lack  
of a dwelling wasn't a surprise to Miyu, as the house had collapsed a number of years before,   
abandoned and left to rot, a house with a bad reputation. 

The lack of a structure, however, didn't mean that there was nothing there. On the   
contrary, if that was the case, Miyu probably would have stopped coming to this location,   
long ago. It was the secret of the empty lot that brought her back, yearly, for her ritual. 

Miyu sighed, walking to the gate on the northeast side of the property, and stepped onto   
the dry, burnt grass. A cold, unpleasant breeze briefly blew by, making her shiver for   
reasons that didn't involve the chill. The vegetation crunched loudly underfoot as she   
walked to the foundation of the house, all that remained of what had been a most   
impressive home. The foundation gave clues as to what had been there before, and Miyu   
quickly found what had been the side or back door, on the northeast side of the ruins. 

Closing her eyes once more, Miyu inhaled deeply, bit her lip, and stepped across the area   
that would have been the doorway. 

Miyu took a couple more steps, her eyes still closed. The crunch of grass was gone,   
replaced by a soft tap that did not echo back. A chill ran down Miyu's spine, but she   
ignored it. Opening her eyes, ever so slowly, she allowed herself to take in the view that,   
even if she never visited again, she could never forget. 

Suspended in a world all of its own, Miyu stood once more on the platform in the plane,   
looking out into the void. 

All was emptiness, as eternity tried to forget the small piece of hyper-reality that Miyu   
stood in. 

Miyu purposefully walked to the intersection of the two platforms, sitting down cross-  
legged on the pivot point of the cross formed in space and time. Closing her eyes to slits,   
Miyu began. It was something she had done ever since the anniversary of the first visit to   
this place, and it was something she imagined she would always do. 

She had to... 

"_It's another school year_," Miyu whispered, her eyes now closed, her facial expression   
blank. "_It's another year of being around humans extensively._" 

Miyu's concentration became intense, and physically she shook. Her eyes, closed, rolled   
into her head, but she continued to whisper to herself, the words barely a whimper to the   
outside, but roaring like a lion in her head. 

"_Classmates will want to befriend me_," Miyu's voice echoed, fading in time. 

After a moment, a soft, shy voice responded. "_I was Aoki Hisae, and being your friend   
lead to my death._" 

"_This is true_," Miyu acknowledged the voice. "_I cannot disagree_." 

Another pause, and another voice, firmer, bolder: 

"_I was Kashima Yukari," _the new voice announced._ "My being your friend resulted in my   
murder._" 

In her subconscious, Miyu listened to the words, absorbing them. "_In a way, this is all   
true_," she acknowledged. "_If it wasn't for me, you both would have lived._" She thought   
on that, her mind drifting among images of Hisae and Yukari. All the images were of the   
two girls living happily, enjoying each others company. It was them, Miyu and... 

"_I don't want friends_," Miyu thought to herself, over and over. "_I don't want friends_." 

The pause that followed seemed to last for millennia, but then a faint reply came from the   
recesses of Miyu's mind: 

"_That's a lie_." 

Miyu knew the voice, having heard it in her subconscious for what seemed like a time   
greater than her lifespan. The image of a perky, redheaded girl rolled briefly in her vision,   
and Miyu answered Chisato:

"_I don't even want myself_," Miyu thought, her eyes moistening with all that she was absorbing.  
No matter how much she tried to justify her existence in her mind, it always came back to the  
one thing she could never escape - it always came back to destiny.

"_That's the truth_," Chisato acknowledged, feigning a brief frown before smiling brightly.. Her red   
hair seemed to float as her head moved with the words. She seemed so alive, so unchanged. In the   
illusion of subconscious, Chisato remained as she was, forever.

A long moment passed, with Chisato looking at Miyu, waiting. Even though she knew the vision  
was a figment of her mind, Miyu could almost feel Chisato with her...

"_I do want friends," _Miyu admittedat last_, _replying in her thoughts. _"However, I am a curse_  
_to humans...humans who befriend me are cursed_." She paused, and then continued. "_And_  
_the friendship of humans is my true weakness._" 

"_That, too, is the truth_," Chisato's image acknowledged, smiling as the girl almost always did   
in her regular life, before the hatching changed her, forever.... 

Miyu looked with sadness upon her lost friend. "_I must not forget what took place here,   
so long ago, when I lost a part of myself that I should not have allowed to get away from   
me._" 

Chisato, grinning, nodded. "_You must not,_" she agreed. 

Miyu fell deep into her subconscious, unveiling the truth that was hidden there. It was a   
truth she had to remind herself of, every year, and it was the reaffirmation of that single   
truth that brought Miyu back to this place, year after year, so that she would never again   
face a loved one on this, the forgotten plane... 

"_I **can't** have friends_," Miyu declared. 

Chisato, losing the ever-present smile, nodded once. "_That's also the truth..._" 

The image of Chisato spun and disappeared, and Miyu was lost in a swirl of white. After   
a few moments, she felt her body impact with a hard surface. 

Opening her eyes, Miyu was face-down on the intersection of the planes, the air silent   
except for her heavy breathing. Stirring herself from her meditation, Miyu rolled to her back,  
reaching up and wiping away the tears experience told her would be in her eyes. The amount  
of tears had, over time, decreased, but would probably always be there, just because of the  
harshness of the trial she subjected herself to, and the impact of the truth she now took to  
heart with renewed vigor. 

Miyu rolled to a sitting position, looking around. "Someday this area, too, will fall to ruin   
and non-existence, like the house before it," she observed. "Until that time, it is good   
for me to return, I think." 

Rising up, Miyu walked briskly towards the entrance to the plane, not looking back. In a   
moment, she was outside, standing in the empty lot once more, the trees rustling with the   
push of the faintest of breezes. 

Miyu walked through the night, working her way back to the cemetery. Everything   
seemed different now, and in a lot of respects, everything was different. The visions of   
her meditation were clear, and she had nothing to work through her mind. The process,   
repeated yearly, allowed Miyu to focus with great precision on what her duties where,   
and those duties meant sacrifices. She accepted those sacrifices, having felt first-hand   
what could happen if she tried to have what she knew she shouldn't. 

Arriving at the cemetery as a church bell rang midnight, Miyu found Larva waiting for   
her, as he always was. Miyu's appreciation for Larva seemed to grow exponentially after   
each year of these visits back. 

"Who needs friends?" Miyu thought, looking at Larva and smiling to herself. "I have   
something much stronger, here." 

Larva looked out once more at the city. "What do you have planned now, Miyu?" he   
inquired, noting that she appeared, as he expected, refreshed and refocused. "Did you   
wish to stay here another day or two?" 

Miyu, having stopped to look at the moon a moment, looked at Larva, the fire in her eyes   
apparent. She shook her head. "It's time to go, Larva," she said at last. "Another town,   
and the Shinma who are there, await us."

Copyright 2002 Kevin Turnquist - Do I have rights?


End file.
